


Beyond The Stars

by WhiteKeaton16



Category: One Piece
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, M/M, Romance, Science Fiction, ZoSan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 04:37:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8608255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteKeaton16/pseuds/WhiteKeaton16
Summary: AU. The year is 2222 and Earth has been destroyed by a vicious and unknown  race. A small fraction of the remaining human population remains on the galaxy class ship, The Grand Line. Sanji is forced to work as an engineer and life becomes increasingly bleak not only for him, but the ship as a whole. All of that changes though when a mysterious transport ship is found with a certain passenger...





	

10 years ago…

 

“Zeff, what’s a “cheat”?”

“Sanji!!! Where did you hear that word!?”

“I don’t know. Around.”

“Goddammit, Sanji…”

“But what's a cheat?”

“It’s nothing you need to be concerned about, Eggplant. Go back to cutting those carrots.”

“But I heard some people talk about them! What are cheats? They sound scary!”

“Don’t worry about it. Go back to work.”

“But Zeff…”

“Shut up, brat! It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

“Fine, old man.”

…

*Sigh* "I may as well tell you now, or you’re going to find out some other way. It's better you learn it from me, rather than hearing it on the streets.”

“So, what is it?”

“Not an “it”, but a “they”. Cheats are people. Or, should I say, were people.”

“Huh?”

“You know about zombies?”

“They’re zombies!”

“No, no! I didn’t say that, brat! But it isn’t far from what they are.”

“Then, what are they?” 

“Well, ever since the beginning, humanity has always been captured in fear. Over the millenniums, humanity has conquered hundreds of fears, but they have yet conquered the greatest fear of all; death.”

“...”

“People fear death. Not all, but most do. Death is scary. It's explainable. It’s lined with uncertainty. People can’t comprehend that.”

“I’m not scared of death.”

“Stop kidding yourself kiddo, you are. Even I am. It’s nothing to be ashamed about. Only fools don’t fear death.”

“But how does this relate to cheats?”

“I’m getting to that!”

“Oh.”

“About a century ago, people found a way to stay alive, even after death. After they died, doctors would somehow plant these gizmos or what not in the patient’s body. These gizmos would continue to keep the brain functioning and heart beating even though their body is dead.”

“What! That makes no sense!”

“I don’t understand it myself, but it’s true!”

“Aren’t they just normal humans then?”

“Not exactly. Their conscience is still there, but the body is not quite. Even though the basic functions are still working, like the brain and heart, the body is still decomposing, but a much slower rate. If we get hurt, Sanji, our bodies can repair themselves and heal, but their bodies cannot. Also, if you died and became a cheat, you would not age at a day. You remain in that nine year old body of yours until you died again.”

“Why?”

“Because you'd be dead! A corpse! You can't age or produce new tissue if you are dead. You just slowly lose what little you have until there is nothing left.”

“Oh.”

“A cheat’s life continues in three phases: the “prime phase” is first stage where the body is still fresh. You can't tell a human from a cheat, well, unless you were a doctor or something, of course. They last this way for about three or four years. The following stage is the “second phase” where the body starts to decompose. They still function just fine, but you can tell they are slowly losing it. This phase lasts about a year or two. The last stage is the “final phase” where the body is pretty much gone. The death they tried so hard to escape comes back again, and they can't cheat their way out of this one. So in total, a cheat could still be “alive” for about five to seven years, if they are lucky ten at the max. But it really doesn't matter how good or bad their body is, rather, how well of shape their their brain. When that's gone, then they are truly dead. ”

“But I don't understand why people would do that! It sounds terrible. It’s death, but just a lot slower!”

“I don’t know why. Some people like a little extra time.”

“But why are they called cheats?”

“Because in a small way, they are “cheating” death.”

“Oh. I would just call them zombie.”

“That’s not a bad description.”

“What if I run into a cheat? What does one look like?”

“When they're in the prime phase, they look like a normal person strolling down the street. The second phase is when you can tell they're a cheat. They loose the color in their eyes, become pale and gray, and have a rotting smell. A cheat is a corpse, you know.”

“Are there other ways? I can easily tell if someone is gray or has maggots all over them.”

“I suppose for the more living ones you kick them and see how they react. Cheats don’t feel pain and they bruise and bleed very easily.”

“So if I suspect a cheat in the Baratie…”

“Fuck no you little shit! You are not attacking any of my customers!”

“But what if-”

“You are NOT attacking any of my customers. Especially women. Sanji, never ever hurt a woman.”

“But what if a women -” 

“Never. Dare. Hurt. A. Women. If you do, I'll kick your ass to Hell and back. Got that?”

“Yeah…”

“Besides, you would never find a cheat anyways.”

“Why?”

“They're all gone. They've been gone for about 50 years now.”

“How? What happened to them?” 

“People realized that cheating death was wrong. Society viewed chests as unnatural and shorty after, the world government did a genocide of all the cheats.”

“I don’t care for cheats, but killing them all?!”

“Cheats weren’t popular from the start. It was an expensive operation to stay “alive” and low class people couldn’t afford it. That caused some anger, it being classified as “classiest” or whatnot. It also upset many religions. Even though millions of people did it, it was still frowned upon. Kinda like smoking.”

“I’d never smoke.”

“If you say so, Eggplant.”

“But if there were millions of cheats, won’t some survive?”

“Yes, a few thousand did. To escape persecution, they all hopped aboard some space crafts and were never heard from again. Rumor is, they made a colony on a far way system to live in peace.”

“But if they only live a few years, they must be all dead by now.”

“Did you consider that some would bring their living loved ones with them? The living would continue on and just turn themselves into cheats when they die.”

“I didn’t think of that.”

“Most folks don’t. In fact, most folks believe that the whole ordeal never even happened. You can read every single history book and I guarantee you will never find one sentence about the cheats.”

“People hated them that much?”

“Not really, but the world government did. They banned every book, movie, show, and talk about cheats. Eggplant, I’m breaking the law right now telling you about them.”

“What! You’re crook now!”

“I’ve been a crook long before you were even a twinkle in your parent's eye. You know, under the governments law, you’re a crook too for listening to me.”

“Well, I don’t mind breaking the law. Government is stupid.”

“You got that right.” 

“I see.”

“See what?” 

“I see why you got mad earlier. Cheats aren't a good thing to talk about, being illegal and all.”

“You bet I was upset. Where have been hanging around, hearing this talk about cheats?” 

“You see, yesterday I was in the back alley putting the garbage away and I saw these two weird guys. They were talking really softly but I heard them say “cheats” and “not good” and stuff like that. Then they walked away before I could hear more, and now I'm talking to you!”

“Hmmm…”

“Zeff, are you Cheat?”

“That's the dumbest question I've ever heard.”

“I was just checking.”

“Get back to cutting those carrots, Eggplant. Story time is over, we have customers to feed.”

“Wait, old man!”

“What do want now?!”

“Do you think cheats will ever come back?”

“I hope not. I hope they never do.”

 

Present time

 

Log of: Sanji Vinsmoke  
Date: September 20th, 2222 AD

But that day did come. I remember when I was nine years old, I asked my adopted father and mentor what was a cheat. My young mind fantasized an image of fictional, silly zombies who lived far far away from my safe home. I grew up with that image my entire life. But 19 days ago I saw the real truth. Cheats are monsters. They evil, wretched, and disgusting beings and I hate every single one. 

They attacked us without warning. It was a beautiful, crisp, early September day and my only thoughts were “Oh, shit I'm going to be late for work” and “Nami looked sexy in that short skirt yesterday”. It was 7:56 A.M. when the calm blue sky suddenly changed to blood red. Swarms of space vessels I’ve never seen before blanketed the sky, covering the sun. Within minutes, I was thrust into an evacuation ship, crushed between hundreds of people. I have no clue how I got there. I had pitiful privilege of being seated next to the window. I could only watch helplessly as they murdered everyone I loved. They shot beams of light that decimated my city within a second. They shot down any ship escaping and blew up every spaceport to inhibit more people leaving Earth’s surface. I don't want to think about how will treat survivors, if there are any.

Frankly, I don't know how I survived. I don't even know if I want to survive. What's the point when my life virtually gone? I lost the Baratie. My dream of being a famous culinary artist is gone. All traces of past have been evaporated. My only family member is dead. All my friends are dead. The woman I loved is dead. I'm stuck on an overcrowded ship with thousands survivors who are more irritable than me. I have been assigned to work as an engineer for the ship's warp drive, when I should be a chef. Life is dictated by conserving what little power and rations available. Each day life becomes increasingly bleak for me and everyone else on the ship. The ship’s captain, Sakazuki, says thing will get better, but I don't see how that is possible. Everyone is cold, dirty, and hungry and we are rapidly running out of fuel. I see young children the elderly be denied of food in the bread line. Yesterday, I overheard the chief engineer say if we don't find fuel within a week, we're as good as dead. It’s hard to believe the attack only happened 19 days ago. It feels like I have been on this godforsaken ship for a year.

I know that shitty old man would want me to keep living though. Don’t worry old fart, I will. I will be strong and stay alive for all the folks at home. It's hard though, and each day I feel like giving up. But I do have a new purpose in life. I will not rest until I kill every single shitty cheat and make those motherfuckers pay for what they did to me.


End file.
